Admission Policy of Fatima N.S
School Address: Cloone, Co. Leitrim
Roll number: 18741S
School Patron:, Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise.
1. Introduction
This Admission Policy complies with the
requirements of the Education Act 1998, the Education (Admission to Schools)
Act 2018 and the Equal Status Act 2000. In drafting this policy, the board of
management of the school has consulted with school staff, the school patron and
with parents of children attending the school.
The policy was approved by the school
patron on [date]. It is published on the
school’s website/blog and will be made available in hardcopy, on request, to
any person who requests it.
The relevant
dates and timelines for Fatima N.S admission process are set out in the
school’s annual admission notice which is published annually on the school’s
website at least one week before the commencement of the admission process for
the school year concerned.
This policy
must be read in conjunction with the annual admission notice for the school
year concerned.
The application form for admission is published on the school’s website/blog
and will be made available in hardcopy on request to any person who requests
it.
2. Characteristic spirit and general objectives of the school
Fatima
NS is a Catholic co-educational primary school with a Catholic ethos under the
patronage of the Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise.
“Catholic Ethos” in the context of a
Catholic primary school means the ethos and characteristic spirit of the Roman
Catholic Church, which aims at promoting:
(a) the
full and harmonious development of all aspects of the person of the pupil,
including the intellectual, physical, cultural, moral and spiritual aspects;
and
(b) a
living relationship with God and with other people; and
(c)
a philosophy of life inspired by belief
in God and in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus; and
(d) the
formation of the pupils in the Catholic faith,
and which school provides
religious education for the pupils in accordance with the doctrines, practices and traditions of the
Roman Catholic Church, and/or such ethos and/or characteristic spirit as may be
determined or interpreted from time to time by the Irish Episcopal Conference.
In accordance with S.15 (2)
(b) of the Education Act, 1998 the Board of Management of Fatima N.S shall
uphold, and be accountable to the patron for so upholding, the characteristic
spirit of the school as determined by the cultural, educational, moral,
religious, social, linguistic and spiritual values and traditions which inform
and are characteristic of the objectives and conduct of the school.
Fatima N.S is a happy
school community and it is our privilege to provide an education for the boys
and girls entrusted to our care. Providing a model of integration, all pupils
can learn together, play together and grow together in a school community that
supports inclusion and celebrates difference.
At Fatima N.S we aim to
provide our pupils with a happy and safe environment in which they will learn.
We cater for all aspects of
the child’s development by providing a holistic education, which will meet
his/her intellectual, spiritual, physical, social, emotional and cultural
needs.
Within the context and
parameters of department regulations and programmes, the rights of the Patron
as set out in the Education Act 1998, and the funding and resources available,
the Board of Management and staff of Fatima N.S support the principles of;
• Inclusiveness – that is, The rights of the children with special
educational needs to be educated in our school.
• Equality of access and participation in our school.
• Parental choice in relation to enrolment
• Respect for the diversity of values, beliefs, traditions,
languages and ways of life in society. We welcome pupils of all faith beliefs
and traditions and those of none. However parents choosing our school should be
aware that as a Catholic School with a Catholic ethos, which permeates the
whole day, we expect all partners to respect our right to promote and practice
our faith in the school.
• Our day starts at 9:20 am. School ends at 2pm for Junior and
Senior Infants an at 3pm for all other classes.
3. Admission Statement
Fatima NS
will not discriminate in its admission of a student to the school on any of the
following:
(a) the gender ground of the student or the
applicant in respect of the student concerned,
(b) the civil status ground of the student
or the applicant in respect of the student concerned,
(c) the family status ground of the student
or the applicant in respect of the student concerned,
(d) the sexual orientation ground of the
student or the applicant in respect of the student concerned,
(e) the religion ground of the student or
the applicant in respect of the student concerned,
(f) the disability ground of the student or
the applicant in respect of the student concerned,
(g) the ground of race of the student or the
applicant in respect of the student concerned,
(h) the Traveller community ground of the
student or the applicant in respect of the student concerned, or
(i) the ground that the student or the
applicant in respect of the student concerned has special educational needs
As per section 61 (3)
of the Education Act 1998, ‘civil
status ground’, ‘disability ground’, ‘discriminate’,
‘family status ground’, ‘gender ground’, ‘ground of race’,
‘religion ground’, ‘sexual orientation
ground’ and ‘Traveller community ground’ shall be construed in accordance with
section 3 of the Equal Status Act 2000.
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Fatima
NS is a school whose objective is to provide
education in an environment which promotes certain religious values
and does not discriminate where it refuses to admit as a student a person who
is not Roman Catholic and it is proved that the refusal is essential to
maintain the ethos of the school. |
4. Categories of Special Educational Needs catered for in the
school/special class
o Fatima
NS is a mainstream school. It does not have a special class or ASD
class. Pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) are catered for by their
mainstream class teacher with the support of the Special Education Teacher
(SET). Our SET is currently shared with two other schools.
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Note
for schools: The act does not require schools and special
classes providing for a category or categories of special educational needs to
change their current status. The current arrangements in relation to the
category or categories of special educational needs provided by schools will continue
as in previous years unless otherwise directed by the NCSE or the Department.
5. Admission of Students
This school shall admit
each student seeking admission except where –
a)
the
school is oversubscribed (please see section
6 below for further
details)
b) a
parent of a student, when required by the principal in accordance with section
23(4) of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, fails to confirm in writing that the
code of behaviour of the school is acceptable to him or her and that he or she
shall make all reasonable efforts to ensure compliance with such code by the
student
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Fatima N.S is a Roman Catholic school and
may refuse to admit as a student a person who is not of Roman Catholic where
it is proved that the refusal is essential to maintain the ethos of the
school. |
Application and Enrolment Procedure
o The application procedure begins in February. Notice is
placed in the parish Newsletter and in local newspapers. Parents/Guardians who
wish to enroll their child in Fatima N.S should call to the School Office,
collect an Enrolment form provided by the school and return it as soon as
possible. Forms may also be collected from the local playschool or will be
posted out to parents who request a copy.
o The closing date for receipt of application will be three
weeks after the enrolment notification usually the beginning of March. Notice
of the closing date will be published in the Parish Newsletter and in the local
newspapers.
o Completion of this form, however, will not automatically
entitle any child to a place in the school.
o An information session for Parents/Guardians will be held in
the Summer Term. This will afford an opportunity for parents/guardians to meet
with school staff and pupils. It will also be an opportunity to learn about the
school, including organizational and curriculum issues. Parents/Guardians and
children will be invited into the school to meet their teacher and the children
who will be in their class in mid-June.
o Parents/Guardians will be given a School Information Pack
containing a copy of the school’s Discipline Policy/Code of Behaviour and a
copy of the school’s Anti-Bullying Policy. The school’s Child Protection
Statement and Policy will also be included in the Information pack.
On seeking to enroll in
Fatima N.S parents/guardians will be required to give the school the following
information.
·
The pupil’s name,
address and date of birth.
·
Pupil’s PPS number
·
Name and address of the
pupil’s parents/guardians.
·
Contact telephone
numbers.
·
Other contact details in
case of an emergency.
·
Details of any medical
conditions that the school should be aware of.
·
Religion.
·
Previous school
attended, if any, and reason for transfer.
·
Permission to give
pupil’s details- name, date of birth and names and addresses of
parents/guardians to the area medical team to facilitate visits by dentist,
doctor or nurse from time to time.
·
Any other information
which may be prescribed under the Education Act
1998, the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 and the Equal Status Act
2000. All such information given to the school will be held in the
strictest of confidence in accordance with the GDPR and our Data Protection
Policy.
6.
Oversubscription (this section must be completed by all
schools including schools that do not anticipate being oversubscribed)
In the event that the school is
oversubscribed, the school will, when deciding on applications for admission,
apply the following selection criteria in the order listed below to those
applications that are received within the timeline for receipt of applications
as set out in the school’s annual admission notice:
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In the event that there
are two or more students tied for a place or places in any of the selection
criteria categories above (the number of applicants exceeds the number of
remaining places), the following arrangements will apply:
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The
school will draw out names on a lottery basis.
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7. What will not be considered or taken into account
In
accordance with section 62(7) (e) of the Education Act, the school will not
consider or take into account any of the following in deciding on applications
for admission or when placing a student on a waiting list for admission to the
school:
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Points (a) to (g)
must be included here by all schools. There are limited exceptions to some of these (highlighted in red
below) and schools must retain the exceptions that apply to them and delete
those that do not:
(a) a student’s prior attendance at a
pre-school or pre-school service, including (a)
naíonraí, other
than in relation to a student’s prior attendance at— (I) an early intervention class, or (II) an early start pre-school,
specified in a list published by the Minister from time to time;
(b)
the payment of fees or contributions
(howsoever described) to the school; (other
than in relation to a fee charging school or a plc or further education and
training course run by a school in respect of those courses)
(c)
a student’s academic ability, skills or
aptitude; (other
than in relation to: -
admission
to (a) a special school or (b) a special class insofar as it is necessary in
order to ascertain whether or not the student has the category of special educational
needs concerned and/or -
admission
to an Irish language school, in accordance with the provisions of section
62(9) of the act
(d)
the occupation, financial status,
academic ability, skills or aptitude of a student’s parents;
(e)
a requirement that a student, or his or
her parents, attend an interview, open day or other meeting as a condition of
admission; (other than in the case of admission to
the residential element of a boarding school or to a plc or further education
and training course run by a school)
(f)
a student’s connection to the school by
virtue of a member of his or her family attending or having previously
attended the school; (other than, in the case of the school
wishing to include a selection criteria based on (1) siblings of a student
attending or having attended the school and/or (2) parents or grandparents of
a student having attended the school.
In relation to (2) parents and
grandparents having attended, a school may only apply this criteria to a
maximum of 25% of the available spaces as set out in the school’s annual
admission notice).
(g) the date and time on which an
application for admission was received by the school,
This is subject to the application
being received at any time during the period specified for receiving applications
set out in the annual admission notice of the school for the school year
concerned. This is also subject to the school
making offers based on existing waiting lists (up until 31st
January 2025 only).
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8. Decisions on applications
All decisions on applications for
admission to Fatima NS will be based on the following:
·
Our
school’s admission policy
·
The
school’s annual admission notice (where applicable)
·
The
information provided by the applicant in the
school’s official application form received during the period specified in our
annual admission notice for receiving applications
(Please see section
14 below in relation to applications received
outside of the admissions period and section 15 below in relation to applications for places
in years other than the intake group.)
Selection criteria that are not included
in our school admission policy will not be used to make a decision on an
application for a place in our school.
9. Notifying applicants of decisions
Applicants
will be informed in writing as to the decision of the school, within the
timeline outlined in the annual admissions notice.
If
a student is not offered a place in our school, the reasons why they were not
offered a place will be communicated in writing to the applicant, including,
where applicable, details of the student’s ranking against the selection
criteria and details of the student’s place on the waiting list for the school
year concerned.
Applicants will be informed of the right
to seek a review/right of appeal of the school’s decision (see section
18 below for further
details).
10.
Acceptance of an offer
of a place by an applicant
In
accepting an offer of admission from Fatima N.S, you must indicate—
(i)
whether or not you have accepted an offer of admission for another school or
schools. If you have accepted such an offer, you must also provide details of
the offer or offers concerned and
(ii)
whether or not you have applied for and awaiting confirmation of an offer of
admission from another school or schools, and if so, you must provide details
of the other school or schools concerned.
11. Circumstances in which offers may not be made or may be
withdrawn
An
offer of admission may not be made or may be withdrawn by Fatima NS where—
(i)
it
is established that information contained in the application is false or
misleading.
(ii)
an
applicant fails to confirm acceptance of an offer of admission on or before the
date set out in the annual admission notice of the school.
(iii)
the
parent of a student, when required by the principal in accordance with section
23(4) of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, fails to confirm in writing that the
code of behaviour of the school is acceptable to him or her and that he or she
shall make all reasonable efforts to ensure compliance with such code by the
student; or
(iv)
an
applicant has failed to comply with the requirements of ‘acceptance of an
offer’ as set out in section 10 above.
12. Sharing of Data with other schools
Applicants should be aware that section
66(6) of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 allows for the sharing
of certain information between schools in order to facilitate the efficient
admission of students.
Section 66(6) allows a
school to provide a patron or another board of management with a list of the
students in relation to whom—
(i) an application for admission to the
school has been received,
(ii) an offer of admission to the school
has been made, or
(iii) an offer of admission to the school
has been accepted.
The list may include
any or all of the following:
(i) the date on which an application for admission was received by the school;
(ii) the date on which an offer of
admission was made by the school;
(iii) the date on which an offer of
admission was accepted by an applicant;
(iv) a student’s personal details
including his or her name, address, date of birth and personal public service
number (within the meaning of section 262 of the Social Welfare Consolidation
Act 2005).
13. Waiting list in the event of oversubscription
In
the event of there being more applications to the school year concerned than
places available, a waiting list of students whose applications for admission to
Fatima NS were unsuccessful due to the school being oversubscribed will be
compiled and will remain valid for the school year in which admission is being
sought.
Placement
on the waiting list of Fatima NS is in the order of priority assigned to the
students’ applications after the school has applied the selection criteria in
accordance with this admission policy.
Applicants
whose applications are received after the closing date, outlined in the Annual
Admission Notice, will be placed at the end of the waiting list in order of the
date of receipt of the application.
Offers
of any subsequent places that become available for and during the school year
in relation to which admission is being sought will be made to those students
on the waiting list, in accordance with the order of priority in relation to
which the students have been placed on the list.
14. Late Applications
All applications for admission received
after the closing date as outlined in the annual admission notice will be
considered and decided upon in accordance with our school’s admissions policy,
the Education Admissions to School Act 2018 and any regulations made under that
Act.
Late applicants will be notified of the
decision in respect of their application no later than three weeks after the
date on which the school received the application. Late applicants will be offered a place if
there is place available. In the event
that there is no place available, the name of the applicant will be added to
the waiting list as set out in Section 13.
15.
Procedures for admission of students to other years and
during the school year
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The Board of Management at Fatima NS
discourages the admission of pupils during the school year and will only
enroll these pupils in exceptional
circumstances.
The procedures of the school in
relation to the admission of students who are not already admitted to the
school to classes or years other than the school’s intake group are as
follows:
· Admittance
depends on places being available and on applicants providing completed
information as for the school’s intake group.
The procedures of the school in
relation to the admission of students
who are not already admitted to the school, after the commencement of the
school year in which admission is sought, are the same as above;
After receiving all the relevant
information above the Board of Management will inform the parent/guardian of
the child of their decision.
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16.
Declaration in relation to the non-charging of fees
This rule applies to all
schools.
The board of (name of school) or any
persons acting on its behalf will not charge fees for or seek payment or
contributions (howsoever described) as a condition of-
(a) an application for admission of a student
to the school, or
(b) the admission or continued enrolment of a
student in the school.
Note:
Exceptions apply only in relation to fee charging post primary schools, the
boarding element in Boarding Schools and admission to post leaving cert or
further education courses run by post-primary schools.
17. Arrangements
regarding students not attending religious instruction
This section must be completed by schools
that provide religious instruction to students.
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The
following are the school’s arrangements for students, where the parent
A written request should be made to the
Principal of the school. A meeting
will then be arranged with the parent(s)/ guardians to discuss how the
request may be accommodated by the school. o The
pupil will be accommodated within the class at the discretion of the Class
Teacher and Principal and in consultation with the Parents/Guardians of the
pupil.
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18.
Reviews/appeals
Review of decisions by the board of
Management
The parent of the student, or in the
case of a student who has reached the age of 18 years, the student, may request
the board to review a decision to refuse admission. Such requests must be made
in accordance with Section 29C of the Education Act 1998.
The timeline within which such a review
must be requested and the other requirements applicable to such reviews are set
out in the procedures determined by the Minister under section 29B of the
Education Act 1998 which are published on the website of the Department of
Education and Skills.
The board will conduct such reviews in
accordance with the requirements of the procedures determined under Section 29B
and with section 29C of the Education Act 1998.
Note: Where an applicant has been refused
admission due to the school being oversubscribed, the applicant must
request a review of that decision by the board of management prior to
making an appeal under section 29 of the Education Act 1998.
Where an applicant has been refused
admission due to a reason other than the school being oversubscribed, the
applicant may request a review of that decision by the board of
management prior to making an appeal under section 29 of the Education Act
1998.
Right of
appeal
Under Section 29 of the Education Act
1998, the parent of the student, or in the case of a student who has reached
the age of 18 years, the student, may appeal a decision of this school to
refuse admission.
An appeal may be made under Section 29
(1) (c) (i) of the Education Act 1998 where the refusal to admit was due to the
school being oversubscribed.
An appeal may be made under Section 29
(1) (c) (ii) of the Education Act 1998 where the refusal to admit was due a
reason other than the school being oversubscribed.
Where an applicant has been refused
admission due to the school being oversubscribed, the applicant must
request a review of that decision by the board of management prior
to making an appeal under section 29 of the Education Act 1998. (see
Review of decisions by the Board of Management)
Where an applicant has been refused
admission due to a reason other than the school being oversubscribed, the
applicant may request a review of that decision by the board of
management prior to making an appeal under section 29 of the Education Act
1998. (see Review of decisions by the Board of Management)
Appeals under Section 29 of the
Education Act 1998 will be considered and determined by an independent appeals
committee appointed by the Minister for Education and Skills.
The timeline within which such an appeal
must be made and the other requirements applicable to such appeals are set out
in the procedures determined by the Minister under section 29B of the Education
Act 1998 which are published on the website of the Department of Education and
Skills.
The Board of Management will monitor the
implementation of all aspects of the Policy and amend the Policy as required.
The policy will be reviewed in line with the recommendations of the CPSMA.
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